Xiangxi Yangtze River Bridge

One of the 10 longest span arch bridges in the world, the Xiangxi Yangtze River Bridge is the most downstream crossing of the giant 3 Gorges reservoir, the largest man-made lake in the world. As a "gateway" to the lower end of the famous 3 Gorges region, the engineers opted for a spectacular arch similar to the Wushan Bridge located about 100 kilometers upstream.

The 508 meter through-arch span is actually part of a new connector expressway that also includes the equally beautiful Xiangxihe cable stayed bridge. The 5.5 kilometer route will allow citizens of Zigui County on the south side of the Yangtze River to cross over to route S255 on the north side of the river.

The Xiangxi arch bridge has a total length of 814.5 meters including approach spans on the north side and will consist of hollow square box beams similar to the Daninghe Bridge on the G42 expressway 100 kilometers to the west. The height of 240 meters is an estimate based on the road deck approximately 117 meters above a full reservoir plus another 123 meters of water to the old surface level of the Yangtze River which itself is probably 30 meters above the bottom of the river.

A suspension bridge design was also studied that would have had a span of 540 meters.

The first renders were for an arch with a span of 498 meters before it was enlarged slightly to 508 meters.